Featuring interactive lectures, case presentations and smaller workshops

The 2026 Update in General Surgery will take place at the Toronto Hilton Hotel, Thursday April 16th to Saturday April 18th.

2026 Hot Topics:

  • “I Meshed Up!” — Managing Mesh Complications in Hernia Repair
  • Gallbladders Gone Wrong: Managing the Difficult Case
  • What Do I Do With…? Answers to Common Surgical Headaches
  • Endoscopy in the Hot Seat: Upper GI Bleeds, Polyps, and More
  • Acute Care Surgery Reality Check

  • Stay tuned for more program and speaker information as well as details for a planned hands-on workshop on Wednesday April 15th!

    Guest Speakers

    Jean-François Boileau

    Jean-François Boileau MD MS FRCSC
    Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
    McGill University
    Director, Jewish General Hospital
    Breast Clinical Trials Group

    Dr Boileau is an associate professor in the Departments of Surgery and Gerald Bronfman Oncology at McGill University. He is a surgical oncologist and director of the Breast Clinical Trials Group at the Montreal Jewish General Segal Cancer Centre and a founding member of the Quebec McPeak-Sirois Clinical Trials Consortium. He is an author on the breast neoadjuvant PALLET (Palbociclib), KRISTINE (Trastuzumab emtansine) and KEYNOTE-522 (Pembrolizumab) trials published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology and in the New England Journal of Medicine.

    As the Principle Investigator of the SN FNAC study (Journal of Clinica Oncology), he has contributed to establishing sentinel node biopsy as a acceptable option to re-stage the axilla of node positive breast cance patients after neoadjuvant therapy.

    Ahmer A. Karimuddin

    Ahmer A. Karimuddin MD MAEd FRCSC
    Associate Professor (Clinical)
    University of British Columbia
    Colorectal Surgery
    St. Paul's Hospital

    Dr. Ahmer Karimuddin is a Colorectal Surgeon working at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC. He is Co-Director of the General Surgery Residency Training Program and an Associate Professor (Clinical) at the University of British Columbia. He has special expertise in the management of cancer of the colon and rectum, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and proctology (hemorrhoids, anal fissures, fecal incontinence).

    Dr. Karimuddin completed medical school at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario 2001. He completed general surgery training at the University of Saskatchewan in 2007, with a year completing a Masters in Adult Education, with a focus on surgical education and CanMEDS. He completed a fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery at the University of Toronto, with research focusing on clinical outcomes of early rectal cancer.

    Dr. Karimuddin has maintained a strong focus on surgical education in his practice, and served for three years as the Discipline Specific Site Leader for Surgery at the Island Medical Program of the University of British Columbia. He has received the Excellence in Clerkship Teaching award of the University of British Columbia twice (2009 and 2011), along with the Preceptor Teaching Excellence award (2012). He is currently the Co-Director for the General Surgery Residency Program at the University of British Columbia.

    He is an active member of the Colorectal Cancer Tumour Group, and has participated in development of Clinical Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer at the BC Cancer Agency. He is also involved in the development and maintenance of screening guidelines for colorectal cancer in BC.